Payroll Manager

Purpose

• The payroll manager is accountable for the strategic leadership, governance, optimization, and operational excellence of payroll across several countries and jurisdictions.
• The role ensures that payroll is delivered accurately, compliantly, cost-effectively, and in alignment with corporate governance standards, while supporting the organization's broader people, financial, and business strategy.
• This role goes beyond transactional payroll management to drive standardization, automation, risk management, robust reporting, delivering high-quality employee experience and trusted payroll outcomes across the region.

Key Responsibilities

Payroll Strategy & Operating Model

• Design and maintain an optimal payroll operating model for Africa & South Africa, balancing in-house delivery, and third-party providers where applicable.
• Drive standardisation of payroll processes, controls, and policies across countries while respecting local legislative requirements.
• Contribute to global payroll transformation initiatives where applicable, including system upgrades, vendor selection, and regional rollouts.

Payroll Operations & Service Delivery

• Oversee end-to-end payroll processing across multiple countries, ensuring accuracy, adhered to timeliness, and consistency.
• Ensure correct calculation and payment of salaries, incentives, allowances, benefits, statutory deductions, and off-cycle payments.
• Ensure high-quality employee payroll experience, with clear escalation paths and resolution of complex payroll queries.
• Ensure payroll outputs support accurate financial reporting and management decision-making.

Compliance, Risk & Corporate Governance

• Ensure compliance with country-specific payroll legislation, tax regulations, and labour laws across relevant payroll jurisdictions
• Implement strong internal controls, segregation of duties, and approval frameworks in line with corporate governance standards.
• Maintain audit readiness, including internal audits, external audits, and regulatory inspections.
• Identify and mitigate payroll-related risks, including compliance, fraud, system, and operational risks.
• Ensure alignment with global policies on data privacy, confidentiality, and information security e.g., POPIA, GDPR where applicable.
• Stay abreast of industry best practices, emerging technologies, and regulatory changes impacting payroll.

Reporting, Insights & Decision Support

• Provide analytics on payroll costs, trends, variances, headcount movements, overtime, and statutory liabilities.
• Ensure statutory, tax, and regulatory reporting is accurate, complete, and submitted within required deadlines.
• Support Reward and HR with payroll data for remuneration reviews, incentives, audits, and workforce planning.
• Partner with Finance to support accurate payroll accruals, reconciliations, and financial close processes.

Process Optimization & Technology Enablement

• Drive continuous improvement and automation of payroll processes to improve accuracy, turnaround times, and scalability.
• Partner with HRIS, IT, and external vendors to optimise payroll systems, integrations, and data quality.
• Lead payroll-related system implementations, upgrades, and enhancements across the region.

Stakeholder Management & Collaboration

• Act as a trusted payroll advisor to HR, Reward, Finance, Legal, and country leadership teams.
• Manage relationships with external payroll vendors, tax authorities, auditors, and regulatory bodies.
• Ensure effective governance forums, steering committees, and working groups are in place to support payroll outcomes.
• Communicate payroll risks, issues, and improvements clearly to senior stakeholders.

People Leadership & Capability Building

• Lead, develop, and motivate a payroll team, fostering a culture of accountability, learning, and service excellence.
• Drive performance management, succession planning, and talent development within the payroll function.
• Ensure appropriate workforce planning, recruitment, onboarding, and skills development aligned to future payroll needs.
• Embed strong process discipline, quality standards, and continuous improvement mindset across the team.
• Provide coaching and hands-on leadership to build technical payroll expertise and leadership capability

Education & Experience

• Ndip or BCom Degree or similar
• SAPA Membership Advantageous
• 8 - 10 years' payroll experience , including leading a team
• Proven experience managing multi-country payrolls , ideally within Africa and South Africa
• Strong knowledge of payroll legislation, tax, statutory reporting, and compliance requirements, as well as financial reconciliations, audit processes and budget preparations.
• Demonstrated experience in payroll management, governance, optimisation, and system implementations
• Experience managing external stakeholders, Senior internal stakeholders